Lan
Lan was persumively an orphan child that wandered around Varrock and Falador for the longest time, as of now, more of her history is being unveiled as more of her past comes back to haunt her. She's a character of TacticalArex's. Her real name is Caroline Bolton, but she refers to herself as Lan, and stubbornly sticks to the adoptive name given to her by another orphan boy whom she considered her brother, Caleb. History. Family History. Silas Bolton was one of three brothers, each sons of a long family tradition to be knighted within the Kinshra. Ever since the Black Knights were a much smaller tribe within Asgarnia, the Bolton's had held ranks within them. Each son was destined to become a knight, as it was their honor to continue this family tradition. As a boy, Silas trained first as a page, to advance as a teenager into a squire. He happily lived out his destiny to become a knight, training feverishly for his title. As well, his brothers trained along side him, each advancing at a moderate pace. Life was simple for the boy, not yet a man, he did however find it regrettable that he his chances for upholding a family were slim, and the woman he courted would live a lonely life if they were ever to marry. Her name was Martha, he had known her since he was a young child, having been a farmers child who came around whenever she found free time, to play with him and his brothers. She became a good friend of the family, though a much lower rank in society, they dismissed any cares for rank and instead worried themselves with the extraordinary feats they promised they'd conquer once they were real knights. At seven, Silas had vowed his love for Martha, and promised to marry her once they’d grown old. As a game, they played house and promised themselves to each other, arranging a marriage. Years past, and their game was lost in an illusion of silliness, something children did to pass the hot summers away. Silas had his Knightship to worry about, many of his seniors disapproved of his fondness for the girl. Martha told herself it was stupid of her to actually believe that they’d ever get married, but somewhere she held that perhaps they could, and their lives would be perfect in all aspects of the word. Silas kept his fancy for her a secret for as long as he could, visiting her late at night, sneaking and endangering his honor to see Martha. They kept it this way for many years, each year Silas promised that one day he would indeed marry her, and they’d run away together. At the age of twenty-two, he was knighted, in that same year, the Black Knights began the offence, attacking the capital city of Asgarnia, in hopes of once more reclaiming their influence over the kingdom. Before he marched out, Martha spoke to him as they said what might well be their last goodbyes, that she believed herself to be pregnant. He vowed he would return, and once he did, they’d escape somewhere far away, to give her and her child the life they deserved. Out of the four thousand Knights that fought in the Siege of Falador, Two thousand returned, Silas being one of the lucky ones. The same night they retreated home, Silas made his escape, knowing the flurry of confusion would be enough to cover for him, hoping they would assume him to have died. He fled with his love to Varrock, assuming a modest life as an carpenter there. For two and a half years, they’d lived there, his wife birthing a healthy baby girl, whom they named Caroline. It was a happy time, the happiest that Silas had ever remembered. Their life was ruined though, when a Kinshra spy within the city, had discovered Silas as a deserter. In the cover of darkness, he set their house alight, a payment for his deserting to the knight force that he had once been so loyal to. Trapped inside, Silas had tried his best to save his families life, taking his two year old, and running down his stairs, with her, his wife falling behind as the wooden structures caved in with his steps. Holding his coughing child against his chest, he made it to the door, and let her out into the fresh air, granting her life before the structures of the old building collapsed as he returned in, for his wife, crushing them both. Life as an Orphan. Caroline was left in the dark alleys of Varrock, barely able to talk, sobbing from the fear the fire had placed in her, she moved away from it’s flames, darker into the confusing system of alleys and dead ends that was the ghetto of Varrock. Not many noticed the crying child as she passed outside their windows, to find herself in a dark alley full of trash, to fall asleep in. She was left alone for two days, when the guards finally came to investigate the fire, they assumed the child dead along with her parents. She picked at garbage, sticking anything that looked remotely edible in her mouth so she might find some sort of nourishment. It was at this time, did another young orphan boy find the child, sitting in a trash filled gutter, chewing with her newly developed teeth on the core to a rotten apple. He was only five at the time, much skinnier then the still fat toddler. Though he saw how sickly Caroline was, and took pity on her, deciding that he’d bring her to the same man who’d been helping him out, in hopes that he’d have the mercy to take in the little girl as well. The man was not the kindest, but using the children as a cheap, easy labor source, he made the older one work harder so he may let the kids sleep in his back shed, and feeding them enough so they might continue to work for him. He was working on a grand machine, something that Caroline, who had been renamed Lan, did not understand, or even try to. It had many tiny notches, and strings, that required little hands to reach in and perfect, as well as someone crawling into it’s clockwork motor, which Caleb, the boys name, always did, despite the much smaller girl being more suited for it. It was dangerous, and if it choose to move while he was in there, he could get his hand crushed, or an entire arm. Often when the children did something he found wrong, he withheld their pay of food he didn’t wish to finish, or make them sleep outside in the rain, ‘least he found his strong backswing to be more fitting. Their life with this tyrant continued for two more years, Lan was four, and Caleb was seven, when the Phoenix, whom he had been borrowing money from for his machine, found that his debt was too much, and took their collection in his life. The children left his house once the gang members starting to form, having no anger against the two urchins, they let them by, Caleb leading Lan as she closed her eyes, and covered her ears to try to block out the screams as they beat the man to his death. Caleb was older now, and he thought himself fit to be more of a man in taking care of both himself, and Lan, then their slaver ever was. He tried many ways of making money, working for vendors, but Lan had discovered that if you sat somewhere public, looking sad, with your hands cupped, some of the more kind-hearted passed coins your way. They were both extremely thin by the time Lan was five, clinging on to life with their nails and teeth, as it slowly tried to slip away from them. Caleb put his little sister, which he assumed Lan to be, and Lan assumed him to be her brother, in front of himself. They shared everything they got, but often Caleb pushed away food, to let her have more, she had always been the weaker of the two. It wasn’t until the Traven had claimed the Varrock Castle had their life slowly began to get better. Skittishly, the two had been in the back courtyard, which was public, debating on stealing food from the garden, when a Chef of the Traven found them. She was a plump, kind woman, and with the permission of Sand Traven, John’s brother, she was allowed to border the children within her room. She took care of them for a week, the child still found themselves wandering the streets, too timid to take food from the kitchen without having it offered to them. Caleb found himself drawn toward one of the Servants, whom was a powerful mage. In the servants free time, he tutored the child, and informally took the boy on as a apprentice. Hesitantly, Caleb left Lan to become an apprentice, thinking she’d be better off in the castle. He didn’t have the heart to tell the girl he was leaving though so, he left her to assume, cowering away, and leaving her alone. He didn’t expect for the castle to be blown a bits, dumping the now alone girl, though she did have her doll, Len, out on the streets, having little direction, except for someone telling her that Sand, whom she called “Mr. Sun” had went to the desert. She thought everyone went there and troubled herself with many attempts at finding the desert, so she may find Caleb. Though all of these attempts were null, and the child found herself tossed around, from place to place as people brought her about, but many abandoned her. Taken in. In the end, she sat within a dark alley of Varrock, curled in the corner, waiting for her brother to return from the desert. Many dark fellows pass through the streets of Varrock, and unfortunately for the child, one had stumbled upon her. A hulking figure of 6’4”, Ehriax was a beast in every aspect. He held the face of a human, but with the dark scowl of something more feral, as well as predatorily look in his eyes. He had been hunting, when he stumbled on the boney child, debating her to be his meal, he decided against consuming the tiny being, her bones would be more of a nuisance then her little meat was worth. But he did not leave her, cowering and shivering in the corner, instead in walked forth, intent in antagonizing the already helpless child. Scared, she did not run from him though, instead stock still she kept her eyes timidly to the ground, as he examined her, huffing loudly, before he finally took something of pity on her, and thrust her up rather cruelly by the arm, and brought the girl to an abandoned house he claimed to be his home. There he set her on a small bed, and told her to sleep. The child obeyed, the beast finding her amusing in a sense, her innocence drawing him to try to steal it away. Though something more was felt, having spent so much time in the façade he was a human, Ehriax had developed, and adapted, some of their emotions, the child drew out a fatherly one in him, they he didn’t understand, and often left him angry whenever it showed prominent. For a few months, he kept the child, hording her possessively at times, and in others, he cast her away like she was nothing but garbage to him. He had given her many of the scars that riddled her body, once when he decided it was time for the child to learn what he really was so she might obey him better then she already did, he’d transformed himself back into his original, demon form, and left three inhumanly large scars across her midsection, from his claws. The girl stayed though, the times when his fatherly, protective instincts, keeping her their enough that she learned to call him ’Papa’, mistaking him for what a father should be, having never remembered her own. Ehriax didn’t understand the human diet, and fed her rarely, when she did ask for food, often timidly for she always feared upsetting him, sometimes he obliged, but others he ignored her, letting her starve. She’d finally felt so hungry, that she left him, something she learned to never do lest she wished to suffer dire consequences. She intended to come back quickly first, but as she stumbled farther and farther away, she realized how angry he’d be at her once she returned. With this in mind, she decided to run, to off put the rage he’d have for her the longest she could. Lan ventured all the way to Falador, hiding their as Ehriax hunted her, falling far behind as for a while he thought her to still be in Varrock. In Falador, Lan had been out by the castle, staring at it as it was in ruins, beside Commander Sir Kane Tyrelen. He heard her speaking to herself, rather, her doll, Len. Assuming she was speaking to him, he replied, watching with a look of saddest as the child winced back she was so surprised, skittish as a pup that had been beaten unfairly to many times. He spoke more calmly with her afterwards though, and as she became more comfortable with the knight, she began to rattle off about the Traven, and then, Ehriax. She showed Kane the scars, telling him about how Ehriax was a monster when he didn’t believe her. She didn’t intend to get Ehriax in trouble, she just decided her new friend should know. Appalled, the Knight Commander asked where Ehriax was, Lan didn’t reply, she didn’t know, and she felt now that she might be endangering Ehriax. If there was one way to win over the child’s heart, it was with food, and Kane decided he might be able to get more information from the ragged girl if she was more comfortable, inviting her to the White Knight camp within Lumbridge swamps. He allowed her to stay there, feeding her and letting her sleep somewhere much more protected then the dark corners of Falador. Slowly, he got out of Lan that Ehriax was coming looking for her, and that he was in Falador, last time she saw him, she doubted though that he saw her. A problem for the Knight was what he was suppose to do with this child, she was allowed to stay with the knights as long as they were camping, but they could not have a young girl running around a military base. With this in mind, he left her alone most of the day to her own devices, she stayed loyally close to the camp as he asked her to do so, the knight he’d assigned to watch her long sense went off to do more dire things then baby-sit. Sadly, as she played alone on the outskirts of the swamp, Ehriax’s hunt had been successful, he tracked the child to the swamp, and dragged her off by her hair, demanding why she left, and who she told about him. In Falador, he had been attacked by a random man, who told him to leave the girl alone, he took this as the girl had been speaking freely about what he was, in hopes of getting him in trouble. He threatened to cut her tongue off for what she did, drawing a dagger, he was close to beginning his act of revenge, when he noticed the Saradomin star hanging from the girl’s throat, as he accidentally touched it, singeing his skin. He screamed, demanding she take it off. Lan did, but in a act of defiance, she thrust the star forward, into his right eye, encrusting the symbol there as well, leaving him to scream and draw back, dropping his knife to clutch his eyes. It was then when Kane burst in, having followed the bloody tracks and dragging marks from the camp, to the shed that Ehriax planned to use as his. The Knight saw the massive man screaming down at the crying girl, and went into action, causing Ehriax to draw back from Lan, his rage melting from him as his human side, which had grown within the presence of the girl, to assert himself. He fell to his knees in disgrace, both blood red eyes on the ground. The Knight released his tortured soul, his head dropping to the ground, Lan outside the door, sparing her the vision of watching someone she thought to be close to her father, die. The demon returned to ash, and Kane slowly returned outside, to the girl. He brought her back to the camp, fed her, before he had to return off, promising her that things were going to get better now. Family. Lan stayed around, watching as the camp was slowly packed up, leaving a few things behind, when Kane finally returned. When she asked him what she was going to do next, he said he didn’t know yet, and that he was leaving. She asked him when he’d return, and he said hopefully never. Guiltily, he was going to leave the girl, so he might begin his own life with Lysia. He decided to buy her a dinner before though, she at least she’d be full before she was left out on her own again. As he was walking with her, the child was excitedly telling him about where she slept, and asked if he wanted to see. Shrugging, he followed her as she took him to a herd of sheep, smiling brightly all the while as she told him about how warm it was. This was the last straw for the Kane’s moral, and he asked the girl if she’d like to come with him. Lan accepted happily, and Kane brought her to Lysia’s house, explaining to his girlfriend the circumstances. She accepted them surprisingly well, having a soft heart for those more helpless them herself. The trio ventured across the ocean, to land lately in Catherby after a bad storm, as well as an unexpected visitor. Kane brought his new family to their new home, where for the first time in Lan’s life, she flourished. For a month the group lived together in the house, undisturbed except for a few travelers whom thought it fit to upset the short tempered ex-commander. Lan’s history, as the child of a renowned Black Knight family, came back to haunt her. Corus Bolton was stationed within Ardougne, their house just north of that in Hemenster. He was ranked highly within the order, an Elite Black Knight, but his mentality was slowly beginning to fade on him. With the stress of his Baron and Baroness unrepentantly leaving, Corus was not healthy in both mind, or body, when he went in search of a forge to repair his sword. Off the shed of Lysia and Kane’s home, there was an old abandon smithy, Corus had caught his eye on that, and went to ask if they might allow him access to it. As he passed, his eyes locked on a small bright eyed girl watching him from the trees. She looked much like Martha, eerily so. Her green eyes, dark black hair, and shape of her face held that of his old childhood friend. The curve of her cheekbones and nose was that of a Bolton’s, given to her from her true father. He saw these, but dismissed them hesitantly, as he tried to speak with Kane, his eyes kept falling on the girl, which caused Kane to send her away, a wary feeling to the knight. Corus’s mind went wild as when the girl went inside, humming the lullaby his mother had made up when he was just a baby. He snapped at Kane, demanding where he found Lan, asking who he was. It snapped to him that this girl was his niece, that Caroline had survived the fire, when he called out Caroline to her, and she paused, looking back as if someone had called her name. Subconsciously, the girl had retained her old name, drawing forth on it in times like this. Bolton demanded that he was returned his niece, stating his name and rank, just to be met with Kane’s. The Knight’s squared off, Bolton now even more feverish to get his niece out of the hands of the White Knights. He hadn’t the strength to take the girl with force without perhaps harming her. He reluctantly left, vowing in his mind to return, with more to take his niece away. And later that night, he did, getting the upper hand quickly as he burst into their home, keeping blood from shedding by grabbing Lysia, and holding a knife to her throat. He exchanged her life for Lan to be delivered to him, and his squire took the screaming, struggling girl, who’s only wish was to be left with Kane and Lysia. Kane promised her, lying to try to sooth her, that he’d see her again. But Lysia was intent in keeping that promise, vengeful as the child was stolen away, and brought to Corus’s home. Uncle Corus. Corus had never had a child, this girl he’d taken away had been a first, and a odd experience for him indeed. She was scared, crying, and refused to speak with him without tears. He tried to reason with her, but she stuck strongly to the fact that she wanted to go home, which he’d never allow to happen. He tried to convince her that the White Knight’s had killed her family, which he truly believed. The irony was that it was the complete opposite. In the short time Lan knew Kane, she painted him as a flawless immortal in her eyes, and she refused to let that image be corrupted by Corus. She screamed at him, throwing fits of rage as he tried to tell her otherwise. She still sits now within Corus’s home, slowly she began to trust the knight more, though she’d never trust him fully, and still harbors plans of escape as soon as he gives her the chance. Adjusting to Home. As time passed, the child, still waiting with drawn breath for Kane's arrival. Days turned to weeks, and weeks to months, and months to years. The girl adjusted to her uncle, he wasn't a bad person, but seeming in the blink of an eye, nearly seven years had passed. At eleven now, the girl became accustom to the solitary life, one of her closest companions, perhaps her own companion, for most of the time, was her Uncle Corus. Once he began to trust her, he allowed to her play outside, finding she didn't want nearly as much, instead spent long days playing in the forests surrounding his house. One day, when she was about seven, she'd been scampering through the forests, alone with nothing but her thoughts...When she'd hear the crackles of breaking twigs, feet trugging through the forests. Still not found of strangers, the girl hid behind a tree, peeking outwards, as a boy, a bit older then herself, wandered through the forest. He didn't notice her, atleast until she stepped out, and demanded what he was doing there. They threw back the best snide remarks two seven year olds could, before deciding, fighting was stupid, and decided to play instead. For a couple weeks, the boy and her met up there everyday, in secret from her uncle. Evantually though, she built up the courage to tell Corus, and brought Max to her house. Corus didn't approve much of the poor boy, but found his hands tied, Lan had already made friends with him. He soon became the girls closest friend, and they spent most of their summers playing around her house, or within the forests. She told him everything about her life she knew, and in turn, he shared his own life. Appearance. Lan is a tiny child, standing at her highest, three feet and one inch. This small frame for her age, was because of the lack of nourishment as she hit a critical stage of growth. Now she is stunted at this small height, and the chance of her growing to the size she was intended to, are slim to nothing. Her hair is a dark black, often pulled back into two pigtails, with messy bangs covering her eyes, often needing to be brushed or pushed out of the way. Once upon a time, her body was gaunt and thin, bruised and battered from the abuse she had upon the streets of Varrock and from those she considered loved ones. Now, with the rejuvenation of the month of comfort she spent with Kane and Lysia, she filled out to an almost normal size for children her age, as well as healed any bruises or cuts, but scars still told of her grim past. Lan is dressed like the average five year old girl as of now, her dress the same as the one Corus stole her away in. Both bright green eyes stare vividly forward, with a innocence behind them, backed up by a fear, always wincing away from sudden movements, and bewaring of strangers. Personality She's a timid, quiet, girl to most. Those who have gotten to know her well enough that she's free to be calm around them without fearing abuse, see her as a bright eyed smily child, who's favorite words consist of "What?" and "Why?". She's fairly confident that she most be close to adulthood by now, having taken care of herself quite a bit, and seeing herself fit to be 'all grown up.' She doesn't understand many adult things, like why Kane and Lysia needed a door, or Why Kane made her knock even if they were sleeping to come in if she had a bad dream. She's seen many bad things, but for the longest time has managed to push them back in her mind, keeping the wide eyed innocence about her. She's imaginative at times, coming up with an entire world of pretend that most people can't see. Trivia *Lan's imaginary friends name is Len. *Caleb named Lan. *The child thinks of family in a very odd way, biology means little to her, and she thinks of her father as someone who's granted her the care she'd been denied so many times. *Lan, despite starving, rarely stole, her fear preventing her for doing so. *Lan believes Hikar-Lidash's name to be 'Mr Toby.' *Lan believes Sand Traven's name to be 'Mr Sun.' *Lan still calls John Traven 'King John.' Category:Characters Category:Humans Category:Female Category:Retired Category:Misthalin Category:Asgarnia Category:Youth Category:Commoners